The Quinn’s Post Trench Experience officially opened in mid April and we’ve been swept off our feet with visitors keen to experience the sights, sounds and noises of the trenches in Gallipoli (courtesy of Sir Peter Jackson and his creative team at WingNut).

Now that we have a moment to catch our breath, we’d like to share some of our photos and media coverage of The Trench.

Governor General, The Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy with Sir Peter JacksonChairperson of the National Military Heritage Trust, Dame Fran Wilde, with The Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy and Trustee Richard Austin.His Worship Mayor Justin Lester with General Manager of The Great War Exhibition, Dave Clearwater.Inside The Trench with actors Jed Brophy and Mark Hadlow, who sometimes undertook 21-hour shoots to capture the footage for The Quinn’s Post Trench Experience. The ‘ghost’ of Lt. Colonel Malone is commanding his troops in the background.Mark and Jed explore The Trench.Mark Mitchell of the New Zealand Herald captures footage in the close confines of The Trench.

Actors Jed Brophy and Darren Young join actor and photographer Dean O’Gorman, who has staged realistic new photographs of Passchendaele for his new exhibition Passchendaele – The Elusive Familiarity of War. This exhibition was installed on the day The Trench opened. For more info see this page.

Photographs from the Palestine Exploration Fund of London were used by Story Inc. and Dusk in creating our latest touring exhibition, War in the Holy Lands, which tells the story of New Zealanders serving in the Middle East in the First world War.

“The exhibit uses six big projection screens and an immersive audio environment to create a powerful visitor experience out of still imagery and first-hand verbatim accounts of soldiers’ experiences.”

“Other moments that pack an emotional punch in War in the Holy Lands come from the stories about the bonds between the men and their horses.

We’d hear a heavy smack and know a horse had been hit. Mostly they were hit through the stomach and would just shake themselves a little. The owner would take the saddle off immediately, for it was always a mortal wound. The horse would nose around among his mates, shake himself, and five minutes later roll on the sand. It was the beginning of the end.”

Our new touring exhibition, War in the Holy Lands, was featured in The Dominion Post over the weekend.

War in the Holy Lands, open until late February 2018, follows the experiences of New Zealand soldiers who fought on horseback across the ancient Holy Lands of Sinai and Palestine during the First World War.